Local retailer partners with church to help homeless

Published 8:48 am, Thursday, November 20, 2014

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Local retailer partners with church to help homeless

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Despite the economic boom currently impacting the city, Midland’s homeless population tops 400 individuals. With the colder months approaching, Ivy Cottage is partnering with the Church Under the Bridge to provide blankets and other necessities to help these Midlanders to survive the winter.

“Just because Midland has become known as one of the richest cities in the United States doesn’t mean that we don’t need to take care of our problems that (the money) has created as a reaction,” said Beverly Vaughn, CEO of Ivy Cottage. “We certainly don’t want anyone else lose their life to the elements.”

The home décor store is currently seeking donated items as well as monetary donations to be used toward the purchase of either blankets or items that comprise a “survival kit.”

Vaughn said the store is offering the community an incentive to donate, entering each donor into a drawing for one of three gift certificates to the store.

“We’re doing a promotion that for every blanket someone brings in, they get entered to win a gift certificate from Ivy Cottage for the amount of $1,000, $500 or $250,” said Vaughn, adding that for every $100 in monetary donations, the donor will be entered six times into the drawing for the gift certificates.

The store plans to conduct the drawing for the gift certificates once it has reached its goal of 450 blankets. Vaughn said there have been nearly 200 blankets donated in the last month in addition to the monetary donations that have come in.

While the drawing will occur once the store’s goal has been reached, Vaughn said she hopes to continue to support CUTB’s mission throughout the rest of the winter and for years to come.

“We plan on accepting donations all the way through the colder months, probably through February and then we’ll try to start meeting other needs,” Vaughn said. While they are focusing on blankets, she added that other items would be welcome as well. “Tarps, bedrolls, coats, anything like that which could help would be great.”

While the store is offering the gift certificates to entice donations, Vaughn said they hardly had to promote the offer and “people are giving from their heart and their pocketbooks.”

“There is a lot of need and it’s only getting worse in Midland,” Vaughn said. “We’re so blessed to have so many fortunate people who have the resources to help us do this. They’ve been so generous, everyone is willing to help somebody get back on their feet.”

Church Under the Bridge’s goal is to reach out to those experiencing homelessness or extreme poverty by providing them with a spiritual home and seeking to assist with meeting some of the physical needs they face.

For more information about Church Under the Bridge and how you can get involved visit churchunderthebridgemidland.org.